Stories about the HTC Pyramid have been kicking around for a while now and the word on the street is that it will be officially announced at the HTC event on 12 April. Of course, that might not be the case. The trouble with the word on the street is that it's just that, and therefore a little dirty.

So what we like to do here on Pocket-lint is separate the facts from the rumours, the soiled whites from the clean undies, so that you know exactly what it is you're riding on before you take it out for a spin. So, here's what's known and what's suggested on the mobile phone currently known as the HTC Pyramid.

Facts

- HTC is holding an event in London on 12 April 2011. The invitation came as an attached picture of a disturbance or ripples on the surface of a liquid. One can sit and theorise as to what that's supposed to indicate until the cows come home, but the fact remains that no one knows for sure whether it's the HTC Pyramid, the HTC Flyer or the HTC Evo 3D that'll be launching - or even all three. Read

- HTC Pyramid was listed on the inventory of Vodafone Germany. Back in February, two phones from HTC were accidentally listed. One of them was the HTC Desire 2 which, indeed, did turn up at MWC 2011. The other was the HTC Pyramid which was listed to come with a 4.3-inch screen on T-Mobile in the US in Q2. Read

- It didn't turn up at MWC or CTIA. The HTC Pyramid, or something a lot like it, did not turn up at either of these two mobile phone shows, as had been predicted by plenty of sites who also gave plenty of specs and rumours. On the one hand, that leaves the Pyramid long overdue, on the other it does cast a doubt as to how accurate the rumour specs are if, so far, some of the information has been incorrect.

- It will be called the HTC Sensation. Sources have confirmed to Pocket-lint that the device will be called the HTC Sensation when it launches in the UK.

- It will be coming to the UK. Sources have confirmed to Pocket-lint that it will get a UK release, however we don't know as yet which operator will be getting the new smartphone.

- It will be available on Vodafone. Vodafone broke early with the announcement that it will be stocking the smartphone.

- It will come with a 1.2GHz dual-core processor. Qualcomm has confirmed that the HTC Sensation will come with a 1.2GHz Snapdragon dual-core processor.

- Specs have been confirmed. 8 megapixel camera and LED flash on the back, a 1.2 megapixel camera on the front, 4.3-inch QHD Super LCD screen, and Android 2.3. It will come with 4GB of internal memory and an 8GB memory card.

Rumours

- It's got a 4.3-inch screen. It's a fair bet that this handset will come with a 4.3-inch screen. So far, all the facts from the leaked information on Vodafone Germany have been true to form, and the one spec listed for the HTC Pyramid, as named, was that it would come with a large display; on the same scale as the largest in the current HTC smartphone line-up.

- It's coming to T-Mobile US in Q2. The other tidbit from the original leak is that the HTC Pyramid was bound for the US, T-Mobile US to be precise, and to be even more preciser than that, in Q2, which means any time up until the end of June. While there's been no confirmation of either, a 12 April launch would certainly leave enough time to get the handset onto the shelves before July.

- It's dual core. While not fact, one of the most consistently talked up specs of the Pyramid is that it's a dual core device. Latest suspicions are of a Qualcomm MSM8260 1.2 GHz Snapdragon chipset running the show. As it stands, the MSM8260 comes with an Adreno 220 GPU which offers double the graphics output of the Adreno 205, found in most current Snapdragon devices, and it should be more than a match for the Tegra 2 system on pure numbers.

- It's 4G. Not that it makes that much difference in the UK but the Pyramid is supposed to slot in as that missing 4G handset for T-Mobile US. This would make it what the Evo 4G is to Sprint, the Thunderbolt is to Verizon and the Inspire 4G is to AT&T. So says the rumour mill.

- It runs on Gingerbread. It's an obvious call - all the more now that Froyo feels like a thing of the past and Honeycomb just for tablets - but all the stories out there point to a device running some form of Android 2.3 as found now on the Nexus (pure Android) handsets on the market.

- It's got Sense UI. Just about all of HTC's smartphones come with the HTC Sense UI on board and, if the HTC Pyramid shots are to be believed, then it's got not only a silver diagonal stripe across the back but there's also some writing at the bottom which quite clearly reads "with HTC Sense".

- It's got a high res screen. As well as being big, the apparent leaked spec sheets which have been flying about since pre-MWC 2011, have indicated that the screen on the Pyramid is going to be high res as well. The figures touted are 960 x 540 pixels which puts it just short of the definition found on the iPhone 4's Retina Display. While that would leave the pixel density a little lower, the physical size of the screen should more than make up for it.

- It's got a serious camera. Word via a few of the websites who've started these rumours says that, optically speaking, the HTC Pyramid is very nicely stacked. On the rear, there's said to be an 8MP camera with AF, image stabilisation and LED flash which some sources have reported as a dual LED. It's thought to be capable of 1080p video capture at 30fps and have an HDMI-out port so that you can watch everything back on your TV without having to transfer the files.

- It's good for video calls. Not to be out-done by its opposite face, there's consistent reports that the HTC Pyramid will come complete with a 1.3MP front facing camera as well. There might not be any video calling apps available to go with it (ok, no Skype, but you could use Fring) at the moment but the hardware certainly looks to be in place.

It's got 512MB/768MB of RAM. The amount of working memory on the device started off at a relatively low 512MB when the first flush of rumours began. More recently, that suggested figure has jumped to a realistic sounding 768MB. While the obvious argument would be that a more powerful phone like this would need more memory to run it, perhaps the more telling fact is that HTC's Sense-running phones tend to have slightly non-standard amounts of RAM available - therefore 768MB looks a more likely number.

- It's called the HTC Pyramid. HTC is very fond, as are many manufacturers, of giving its products codenames while in development. The HTC Desire was the HTC Bravo, the Desire HD was the Ace, and so on. So, while it's currently known as the HTC Pyramid, there's an excellent chance that, whenever it arrives, it won't be called that any more. On the other hand, it might. However, with rumours of both the screen size and resolution, there's suggestion that what we're really looking at is the HTC Desire HD 2.

What we don't know

- How much it will cost. Chances are we'll be non-the-wiser to this question until the operators send out their information some time after 12 April but taking a look at how the HTC Desire HD is priced now - or was when it launched - and you should have a fair idea.

- Whether it will come to the UK. With T-Mobile US the only network this phone's been linked with so far, there's been no mention of whether the HTC Pyramid is set for a launch in the UK or outside of America at all. It's perfectly possible, that HTC will keep it to where there's an active 4G network. But then why the London launch - if indeed it's the Pyramid that's arriving on 12 April?

Does the HTC Pyramid sound like your kind of phone? Let us know in the comments.